A debate in the final weeks of the Philadelphia mayoral primary campaign featured a heated back-and-forth over ethics, odd attacks over union endorsements, and new scrutiny for one contender.
Tuesday night was the final scheduled televised debate ahead of the May 16 primary election. Nine Democrats are vying for the nomination, and the winner of the Democratic primary will be well-positioned to prevail in November given Philadelphia’s heavily Democratic electorate.
Six appeared on the debate stage: state Rep. Amen Brown, businessman Jeff Brown, former City Councilmember Allan Domb, former Councilmember Helen Gym, former Councilmember Cherelle Parker, and former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart. Three others who are not considered to be top contenders were not invited to participate.
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The debate, hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, was filmed at 6abc’s studio and streamed online. The debate will be broadcast on television Sunday morning, and the event wasn’t open to most outside observers, including other journalists.
Here are some of the key moments of the night:
One of Jeff Brown’s first comments during the debate was a lie.
The grocer was asked about an outside group called For A Better Philadelphia, which has raised more than $3 million to support his campaign and was sued by the city’s Board of Ethics...
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